We’re proud to share that Obsidian Sensors, an EvoNexus Portfolio Company, was featured by NBC 7 San Diego after the Sorrento Fire burned roughly 90 acres near the company’s headquarters on June 8, 2026. With the flames nearly at their back door, the Obsidian team set up one of their thermal imaging cameras and captured what the naked eye couldn’t see. The harrowing opportunity demonstrated a powerful use case for Obsidian Sensors here at home.
While traditional video footage of the fire showed mostly smoke, Obsidian’s thermal imagery cut straight through it, providing an enhanced assessment of the situation in real-time. “You can see the [fire-fighting] plane, the flames and the hot spots through the smoke,” John Hong, CEO and Co-Founder of Obsidian Sensors, told NBC 7. The advantage held even after crews extinguished the blaze: “We also saw after the flames were all put out that there were still hotspots. It’s very clear in thermal imagery where the hot spots are. Visually, you cannot tell.”
For Hong, the fire was more than a technical demonstration. His home sits on a bluff that was inside the evacuation order, and his wife had to gather their belongings and drive out before crews closed the roads. Thankfully, his neighborhood was ultimately spared, and the company never had to evacuate.
Obsidian’s cameras are primarily deployed in defense today, including on drones used by Navy SEALs and Marines. But as the NBC 7 segment notes, the team believes thermal imaging like theirs could become an important tool in fire safety. While no fire departments currently use Obsidian’s products, the Sorrento Fire footage is a vivid preview of what that could look like and how it can aide fire crews in the future.
Obsidian Sensors was founded in 2017, when a team of Qualcomm engineers spun out and joined EvoNexus with a promise of creating a new generation of thermal image sensors. Since then, the company has raised over $20M in venture funding, partnered with Quanta Computer to bring thermal imaging to the automotive market, secured US DOD contracts, and expanded manufacturing with Innolux and JDI.
At EvoNexus, we back founders who are relentlessly focused on building real companies that solve real problems. Seeing technology built in our incubator cut through the smoke of a fire in our own backyard is a powerful reminder of why that work matters.
Obsidian Sensors, Inc. is a San Diego, California-based company that manufactures infrared cameras for use in security, defense, automotive, and drone markets. The company was founded in 2017 by John Hong and uses proprietary manufacturing techniques to produce high-volume units at a lower cost than other commercial options. Obsidian’s technology includes glass microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) that use infrared imaging for applications such as autonomous vehicles and security cameras. Learn more at obsidiansensors.com.
About EvoNexus
EvoNexus is California’s leading nonprofit technology startup incubator, with locations in San Diego and Irvine. Since its formation in 2010, EvoNexus has successfully built 289 companies with an exceptional survival rate of over 85%, with portfolio companies securing over $2.4B in cumulative venture funding — backed by a network of more than 400 venture capital and independent investors — and achieving 63 acquisitions alongside a successful IPO, with additional public market exits on the horizo,n and over $6 billion in pre-exit valuations. Backed by an elite network of global corporate partners — including Irvine Company, Qualcomm, AMD, BAE Systems, Viasat, ResMed, LG, Murata Manufacturing, and EMD Electronics — EvoNexus continues to drive massive economic impact across Southern California’s innovation economy, culminating in a record-breaking year with $619M raised for the portfolio in 2025 alone.